The Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s Connection to Hamas and US-Designated Groups

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition presents itself as a wholly humanitarian endeavor aimed at providing aid to the people of Gaza. But behind this noble facade lies a disturbing connection to Hamas and other terror–designated organizations. This investigation delves into the coalition’s controversial connections.

Establishment and Network Expansion

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) was formed in 2010 following the Mavi Marmara incident, in which a flotilla attempting to reach Gaza was raided by Israeli forces. Initially established as a coalition of 22 NGOs, its stated mission is to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid. The organization describes itself as a “grassroots people-to-people solidarity movement” but operates with centralized coordination.^[1]

The 2010 founding members included the Free Gaza Movement (International); European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (Europe); Turkey’s İHH İnsani Yardım Vakfı (a member of the U.S.-designated Union of Good^[2]); Ship to Gaza Greece (Greece); Ship to Gaza Sweden (Sweden); International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza (International).^[3]

In the following years, the coalition expanded and today includes: U.S. Boats to Gaza, Canadian Boat to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla Italia, MyCARE Malaysia, Kia Ora Gaza (New Zealand), Ship to Gaza Norway, Gaza Freiheitsflottille (Germany), Gaza Freedom Flotilla Cobh (Ireland), Free Gaza Australia, Palestine Solidarity Alliance (South Africa), Rumbo a Gaza (Spain), Freedom Flotilla Brasil, and Mavi Marmara (Turkey).^[4]

PCPA and Hamas Connection

On January 21, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) as a terrorist organization. The OFAC finding explicitly stated that the PCPA is “clandestinely controlled by Hamas” and operates as a “front organization.”^[5]

Established in 2018 as Hamas’s international political wing, the PCPA functions as a de facto Hamas embassy abroad. It received $100,000 from Hamas for its inaugural 2018 conference.^[6] A 2018 letter from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh identified PCPA as a core part of Hamas’s international outreach strategy.^[7] Israel previously designated the PCPA as a terrorist organization in 2021.^[8]

Critically, the U.S. Treasury described the PCPA as the “main organizer of recent flotillas that sought to break Israel’s security cordon around Gaza.”^[9]

The institutional links between PCPA and FFC are reinforced through the International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza (ICBSG), According to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s official website, the ICBSG was one of the original founding member organizations of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition in 2010 and remains a current member organization.^[10]

Zaher Birawi is identified both as a senior PCPA official and as chairman of ICBSG, while also describing himself as a founding member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and having served as an organizer and spokesperson in earlier flotilla missions, including the 2010 Gaza flotilla.^[11]

In addition, on September 30, 2025, the Israeli government released official Hamas documents discovered in the Gaza Strip, providing documentary proof of direct Hamas involvement in flotilla operations.

The first letter is signed by the Head of the Hamas Political Bureau and directly addressed to the PCPA chairman. It explicitly calls for unity and publicly endorses the PCPA, proving Hamas leadership’s direct control over PCPA operations.^[12]

The second letter, found in a Hamas outpost in Gaza, lists PCPA members, including high-ranking Hamas operatives, such as Zaher Birawi, Head of PCPA’s Hamas sector in the UK, and Saif Abu Kishk, PCPA’s operative in Spain, who is also listed on FFC’s Steering Committee.^[13] This document proves a direct, operational connection between flotilla leaders and the Hamas hierarchy.

Key Individuals Linking FFC to PCPA and Hamas

Zaher Birawi is a UK-based activist affiliated with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.^[14] He is a founding member of both the PCPA General Secretariat and the FFC and served as spokesman for the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla.^[15] He was designated and sanctioned by OFAC on January 21, 2026.^[16] He currently chairs the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza and the EuroPal Forum, a Hamas-linked organization.^[17] He maintains a significant digital presence and has been photographed coordinating with Hamas operatives at flotilla planning meetings.^[18]

Saif Abu Kishk – PCPA Operative and FFC’s Ship Owner

Identified as #25 on the captured Hamas operative list, Saif Abu Kishk is a PCPA operative based in Spain.^[19] He is the CEO of Cyber Neptune, a Spanish shell company that owns flotilla vessels.^[20] He was the spokesperson of the 2025 Global Sumud Flotilla and is a member of the FFC steering committee. Reports indicate that Abu Kishk’s company, Cyber Neptune, owned “dozens of ships participating in the flotilla,” indicating the effective control of FFC’s maritime assets by Hamas.^[21]

Ehab Lotayef – Canadian Boat to Gaza

Lotayef is a Canadian electrical engineer of Egyptian origin and serves as primary organizer for Canadian Boat to Gaza and is among FFC spokespersons.^[22] On October 8, 2023, one day after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, Lotayef posted on Facebook: “Armed resistance is a right. What the Palestinians did is not [sic] more of a terrorist act than the collective punishment and bombardment Israeli has been doing for years.”^[23]

David Heap – Canadian Boat to Gaza

Heap is the founder and spokesperson for Canadian Boat to Gaza, a member of FFC’s Steering Committee and FFC’s media coordinator.^[24] He is a professor in the Department of French Studies at Western University, Ontario (UWO). In 2012 he visited the Islamic University of Gaza, known for being a Hamas bastion.^[25] He has been arrested twice in attempts to participate in flotilla missions to Gaza.^[26]

Roger Fowler – Kia Ora Gaza (New Zealand)

Fowler is the Chair of Kia Ora Gaza (New Zealand).^[27] During a FFC meeting in 2019, he was photographed alongside Hamas operatives in Europe, such as Amin Abou Rashed and Zaher Birawi.^[28]

FFC’s Broader Terror-Linked Partner Network

Samidoun – U.S.-Designated Terror Group

On October 15, 2025, Samidoun was designated as a terror organization by OFAC, which described it as a “sham charity that serves as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization”.^[29]
Samidoun is listed on the FFC website as one of FFC’s endorsing supporters and has published statements supporting FFC missions.^[30]

UAWC – FFC Gaza Partner

The Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) is an official FFC Gaza partner.^[31] It was designated as a terrorist organization by Israel in 2021 and USAID has described it as the “agricultural arm” of U.S. terror designated PFLP.^[32]

We Are Not Numbers (WANN) – FFC Gaza Partner

WANN is an official FFC Gaza partner.^[33] It is fiscally sponsored in the U.S. by Nonviolence International, the same organization that fiscally sponsors FFC’s U.S. Boat to Gaza, and it is also registered in Gaza under the organization Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.^[34] WANN was co-founded by American journalist Pam Bailey and Ahmed Alnaouq.^[35] Ahmed’s brother, Ayman Alnaouq, was an active member of the Hamas Qassam Brigades and was killed during an airstrike in 2014.^[36]

MyCARE Malaysia – FFC Member Organization

MyCARE (Humanitarian Care Malaysia) is a formal FFC member with alleged ties to Hamas.^[37] It employed Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, a Palestinian engineer and Hamas rocket/drone expert, until his assassination in 2018, providing cover for Hamas weapons development.^[38]

FFC’s Operations and Leadership in the U.S.

U.S. Boat to Gaza (USBTG)

U.S. Boat to Gaza operates as the U.S. affiliate campaign within FFC. USBTG operates as a fiscally sponsored project of Nonviolence International )NVI), a Washington D.C.-based registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.^[39]

Official donation pages for both the U.S. Boat to Gaza campaign and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition state that donations are processed through Nonviolence International and that NVI retains “discretion and control” over funds, consistent with standard fiscal sponsorship arrangements under U.S. nonprofit law.^[40] NVI’s founder and chair is Mubarak Awad, a Palestinian-American activist who held teaching roles at the American University in Washington DC. Awad helped launch the First Intifada and was exiled from Jerusalem by the Israeli government in 1988.^[41] In the U.S, he was involved in anti-Israel advocacy on campus, such as an SJP event at Northeastern University in Boston.^[42]

Endorsing supporters of U.S. Boat to Gaza include U.S. terror designated Samidoun, as well as other American anti-Israel organizations such as Friends of Sabeel North-America, Quaker Palestine Israel network, The Tree of Life Educational Fund and USA Palestine Mental Health Network.^[43]

U.S. Boat to Gaza does not appear to have a rigid corporate hierarchy; instead, leadership functions are served by recurring spokespersons and contact figures presented across campaign media:

Hay Sha Wiÿa

Hay Sha Wiÿa (pseudonym) is FFC’s press officer.^[44] While her real name is unknown, Wiya is known for being a writer, an activist, and organizer who has become a prominent voice in Indigenous and international solidarity movements. According to media reports, she is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.^[45]

Wiya oversaw FFC’s official communication with the major global media channels for all FFC missions between 2024-2025.^[46] She played a key role in the April 15, 2024 multi-city economic blockade, which coordinated protests across 55 U.S. cities. In West Oakland (CA), she helped organize the shutdown of the I-880 freeway with approximately 300 protesters, as well as a series of disruptive actions at the Port of Oakland to block military supply shipments to Israel.^[47]

Ann Wright

Ann Wright is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and former diplomat. She is a prominent member of U.S. Boat to Gaza and participated in multiple FFC missions, including the flotilla in 2010 and the 2025 Global Sumud Flotilla.^[48] She is a member of the Board of Directors of CODEPINK, a radical far-left group with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party,^[49] and regularly takes part in their protests at Capitol Hill.^[50]

Pam Bailey

Pam Bailey is a Washington-DC based journalist and co-founder of We Are Not Numbers (WANN), one of the official FFC U.S. partners. She served as international secretary for Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Bailey participated in FFC’s flotilla in 2024.^[51]

Huwaida Arraf

Huwaida Arraf is a member of U.S. Boat to Gaza and is mentioned on the FFC website as one of the most prominent participants of the 2025 flotilla mission.^[52] Arraf is a lawyer and was a 2022 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for Michigan’s 10th Congressional District. She is also an elected member of the Michigan Democratic Party’s State Central Committee. Arraf is a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and in 2016 she joined the defense team of PFLP terrorist Ramsea Odeh.^[53] Arraf has publicly glorified terrorists, endorsed Hamas and supported the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.^[54]

Fundraising

The following is a list of public fundraising methods and campaigns led by FFC and its associates:

PCPA Direct Fundraising

• Campaign: “Brotherhood Day” launched in 2024.
• Platform: Ensany (Malaysia-based Islamic crowdfunding), utilizing PayPal for processing.
• Amount: Raised over $71,000 to date.
• Operators: Jointly operated by PCPA and Wijdan Charity (whose stated objective includes launching smear campaigns against Israel).

U.S. Boat to Gaza Fundraising

• Fiscal Sponsor: Nonviolence International (501(c)(3) nonprofit).
• Platform: Active PayPal donation page
• Status: Funds processed through the U.S. banking system; tax-deductible status facilitates U.S.-based funding despite PCPA coordination.

Canadian Boat to Gaza Fundraising

• Portal: canadaboatgaza.org.
• Methods: Interac e-Transfer accepting Visa/Mastercard.
• Status: Actively fundraising for a Spring 2026 mission.

Kia Ora Gaza (New Zealand) Fundraising

• Dedicated Westpac Bank account accepting Visa/Mastercard.
• Target: $100,000 NZD for flotilla operations.

American and German FFC chapters

Both have run campaigns on GoFundMe, raising over $20,000 combined. Despite U.S. designations, these campaigns are coordinated by the PCPA network, with the U.S.-based company GoFundMe continuing to process payments.

FFC’s Flotilla History (2010s-2020s)

Multiple Freedom Flotilla Coalition missions were conducted between 2023 and 2025, including two major flotillas in 2024: “Break the Siege” and “Handala: For the Children of Gaza,” and four others in 2025: “Conscience” in spring 2025; “Madleen” in June 2025; “Handala” in July-August 2025, and the “Global Sumud Flotilla,” which involved more than 40 vessels sailing from multiple Mediterranean ports.

During the 2010s, major FFC’s missions included Freedom Flotilla II in 2011; Freedom Flotilla III in 2015, both involving multiple vessels and international participants; the 2016 Women’s Boat to Gaza, entirely crewed by women; and 2018’s Just Future for Palestine.^[55]

The Upcoming Global Sumud Flotilla (March 2026)

Following its official meeting held in Dublin in December 2025, FFC announced the organization of a new “Global Sumud” flotilla, scheduled to sail on March 29, 2026.^[56]

On February 5, flotilla organizers met at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa and announced that the mission will depart from Spain and will consist of more than 100 boats and over 1,000 participants from several countries, supported by a parallel land convoy moving toward Gaza.^[57]

The Global Sumud Flotilla launched an official website for the 2026 flotilla, which includes a participation form listing all the roles open for the mission, including a tech worker, a member for the legal team, and two fundraising managers.^[58] Funds supporting the 2026 Global Sumud Flotilla are being raised on Chuffed, an Australian fundraising platform which processes payments through Paypal and Stripe. To date, more than €158,000 have been raised.^[59]

On 17 February 2026, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) issued a joint appeal calling for the recruitment of new activists globally to support efforts aimed at “breaking the siege on land” in the West Bank, described as operating in parallel with the Sumud Flotilla, which will seek to “break the siege by sea.”^[60]

The initiative appears to reflect a coordinated mobilization effort designed to increase activist activity affecting Israel through both land-based and maritime channels. The online appeal features Huwaida Arraf, identified as an ISM co-founder and participant associated with the FFC.^[61]

Conclusions

Although the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) presents itself as a grassroots humanitarian network, the report suggests that its operations are highly coordinated through centralized structures, particularly the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), which has been recently designated as a terror organization by OFAC.

The analysis identifies multiple individuals and partner organizations connected to entities designated by the U.S. as terrorist organizations or terror fronts. These connections raise significant compliance, reputational, and security concerns for any institution interacting with the network.

While the coalition publicly frames its missions as humanitarian aid efforts, the operational leadership and funding structures show significant overlap with political and ideological networks linked to Hamas and other designated groups.

Despite this, fundraising for the FFC and its associates continues through mainstream financial platforms and fiscal sponsors, creating potential legal liability for platforms that continue to facilitate their activities.

The upcoming March 2026 Global Sumud Flotilla suggests that the FFC is continuing to expand its operational capacity in coordination with Hamas-aligned entities and U.S. terror designates while avoiding legal or regulatory scrutiny.

Recommendations

1. Notify financial service providers – The U.S. government and relevant regulatory bodies should formally notify PayPal, GoFundMe, Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard that they are actively processing funds for a network coordinated by a U.S.-designated Hamas front organization.
2. Consider expanded designations – OFAC should evaluate whether additional FFC member organizations and individual leaders warrant designation under existing counterterrorism laws. Allied governments in countries where FFC chapters are based, such as the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, should also be encouraged to align their own designations with those of OFAC.
3. Review Nonviolence International’s 501(c)(3) status – Congress and the IRS should review whether Nonviolence International’s fiscal sponsorship of U.S. Boat to Gaza is consistent with its tax-exempt status, given the documented coordination of FFC operations by a U.S.-designated terrorist front.
4. Coordinate response to March 2026 flotilla – Governments and relevant international bodies should be briefed on the March 2026 Global Sumud Flotilla ahead of its scheduled departure, given its coordination by a PCPA-linked network and consider the potential use of diplomatic channels to disrupt its activity.

Disclaimer

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3. Ibid ↑
4. FFC, Donate, accessed 02/26 ↑
5. US Department of Treasury, Treasury Exposes and Disrupts Hamas’s Covert Support Network, published 01/26/26, accessed 02/26 ↑
6. Ibid ↑
7. Ibid ↑
8. Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, Waves of Hate, accessed 02/26 ↑
9. US Department of Treasury, Treasury Exposes and Disrupts Hamas’s Covert Support Network, published 01/26/26, accessed 02/26 ↑
10. FFC, Who we are, accessed 02/26 ↑
11. Middle East Monitor, International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza chair responds to Israel defamation campaign, published 10/04/25, accessed 02/26 ↑
12. Gov.il Official Hamas documents prove Hamas’s direct involvement in the Gaza flotilla, published 09/30/2025, accessed 02/26 ↑
13. Ibid; Global Sumud Flotilla, Saif Abukeshek, accessed 02/26 ↑
14. The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Preparations for the Great Return March, published 03/15/18, accessed 02/26 ↑
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16. Ibid ↑
17. The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Preparations for the Great Return March, published 03/15/18, accessed 02/26; National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing of Israel, The Minister of Defense has designated 6 Hamas organizations as terror organizations, published 01/03/22, accessed 02/26 ↑
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22. FFC, Freedom Flotilla III will sail during the first half of 2015, published 2015, accessed 02/26; Canada Boat to Gaza, 3 Remaining Canadians among the International Freedom Flotilla Volunteers Freed from Israel’s Unlawful Detention, published 10/12/25, accessed 02/26; Canadian Dimension, One year after Greece stopped Freedom Flotilla, published 07/27/12, accessed 02/26 ↑
23. Ehab Lotayef, Facebook, published 10/08/23, accessed 02/26 ↑
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27. FFC, Media contacts, accessed 02/26 ↑
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29. US Department of the Treasury, United States and Canada Target Key International Fundraiser for Foreign Terrorist Organization PFLP, published 10/15/2024, accessed 02/26 ↑
30. FFC, Freedom Flotilla Endorsements, accessed 02/26; Samidoun, Freedom Flotilla: Breaking the Siege is an International Responsibility That Cannot Be Delayed, published 06/08/25, accessed 02/26 ↑
31. FFC, Who we are, accessed 02/26 ↑
32. NGO Monitor, Union of Agricultural Work Committees’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group, published 07/16/25, accessed 02/26 ↑
33. FFC, Who we are, accessed 02/26 ↑
34. We are not numbers, The story behind WANN, accessed 02/26 ↑
35. Mondoweiss, We Are Not Numbers: New project helps Gaza writers tell their story, published 02/05/15, accessed 02/26 ↑
36. Ibid ↑
37. FFC, Who we are, accessed 02/26 ↑
38. JPost, Gaza flotilla backers have history of Hamas support, published 07/29/18, accessed 02/26 ↑
39. US Boat to Gaza, Who we are, accessed 02/26 ↑
40. US Boat to Gaza, Donate, accessed 02/26 ↑
41. Sojo.net, Mubarak Awad, accessed 02/26 ↑
42. NGO Monitor, Nonviolence International, accessed 02/26 ↑
43. US Boat to Gaza, Endorsments, accessed 02/26 ↑
44. FFC, Journalists and Healthcare Workers Sail to Challenge Israel’s Siege and Media Blackout, accessed 02/26; Hay Sa Wiya, Instagram ↑
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47. KQED, Protesters Shut Down I-880 Freeway in Oakland as Part of ‘Economic Blockade’ for Gaza, published 04/15/24, accessed 02/26 ↑
48. AA, Ships will continue until Palestine is free,’ says American member of Freedom Flotilla Coalition, published 05/10/25, accessed 02/26; Middle Est Monitor, Israel’s drone strike on Gaza Flotilla: MEMO in conversation with Ann Wright, published 05/08/25, accessed 02/26 ↑
49. Committee on Oversight, Oversight Republicans Investigate Funding Behind Los Angeles Riots Linked to Chinese Communist Party, published 06/13/25. Accessed 02/26 ↑
50. CODEPINK, Ann Wright, accessed 02/26; CODEPINK, Instagram, published 10/25, accessed 02/26 ↑
51. Pam in progress, Instagram, published 06/25/24, accessed 02/26 ↑
52. FFC, Huwaida Arraf, accessed 02/26 ↑
53. Huwaida Arraf, Facebook, published 2016, accessed 02/26 ↑
54. Huwaida Arraf, X, published 09/18/20, accessed 02/26; Huwaida Arraf, X, published 08/05/14, accessed 02/26; Huwaida Arraf, X, published 08/14/15, accessed 02/26 ↑
55. FFC, Previous Freedom Flotilla Missions, accessed 02/26 ↑
56. FFC, Freedom Flotilla Coalition Meets in Dublin, Announces Expanded 2026 Sailings to Gaza and Calls for Escalated Global Action, published 12/11/25, accessed 02/26 ↑
57. Al Jazeera, Activists announce new, bigger aid flotilla to set sail for Gaza in March, published 02/205/26, accessed 02/26 ↑
58. Registration GSF, accessed 02/26 ↑
59. Chuffed, Second Mission, accessed 02/26 ↑
60. ISM, Instagram, published 02/18/26, accessed 02/26 ↑
61. Ibid ↑